


the sun in your bones

by OutTheWindow



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2018-11-07 04:43:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11051571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OutTheWindow/pseuds/OutTheWindow
Summary: Sami's only at this stupid party to make sure Antonio gets home alright. He's not expecting to have any fun and he's not expecting to make any friends- and then he meets Kevin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! I haven't written anything since I was 16, so for like for 4 years, and I haven't written wrestling fanfiction ever before, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I've been wanting to get back into the writing game for a while now so I figured I'd put this out and see how it does. Feedback would be super appreciated, I only ask that if it's negative please phrase it as nicely as possible. Also I swear the writing and most likely the plot will get better, just bear with me.

Sami shuffled his feet and checked his phone for the 47th time since he’d sat on this old, ratty brown couch in this shitty frat house that oozed with the intermingled stenches of weed and alcohol from every crack and crevice at a sickening level. They’d only been there four minutes. Sami sighed and tugged at a loose thread on his shirt.

These types of parties weren’t his thing. At all.

Alcohol and drugs were against his religion, and even if they hadn’t been, Sami didn’t have much of a desire to lose his capacity for common sense or decent judgement. And of course, these parties weren’t any fun if you weren’t drunk or high off your ass. No one here wanted to trade wild theories on how this town got its name or listen to his 20 minute speech on the finer points of punk music. Especially since he didn’t know anyone.

The only person he knew here was his best friend Antonio, who’d recently discovered a love of partying that meant that Sami was spending more and more nights on various strangers’ couches, playing games on his phone and checking the time religiously as he half-heartedly tried to ignore the depraved couples making out far too close to him, or the people stumbling by, splashing alcohol on his favorite Misfits t-shirt. 

Everyone, even Antonio himself would question why Sami kept going if he hated them so much. But Tony was Sami’s best friend, and Sami was a bit of a worrier. The stupid amount of stupid college kids consuming stupid amounts of substances that made them even stupider meant that Sami still felt the need to go just to make sure Tony got home safely every night.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t hate these parties with every fiber of his being. He hated this house and everyone in it. He hated the gross dudebros hollering over their game of beer pong along the far wall. He hated the girl giggling waaay too loudly at some guy’s joke right fucking next to him. He hated the guy standing alone in the corner looking angry… well. He wasn’t actually sure if he hated that guy, he didn’t really look like he wanted to be there either and OH GOD HE WAS WALKING DIRECTLY TOWARDS HIM HAD SAMI BEEN STARING TOO LONG FUCK HE NEVER KNEW HOW TO BEHAVE IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS NOW THE ANGRY GUY WAS GOING TO BEAT HIM UP AND-

“Hey,” The guy said, (nervously?) running a hand through his short, dark hair. He’d stopped right in front of Sami, and Sami, still on the couch, had to tilt his head all the way back to see the guy’s face.

“You look like you’re having fun there,” The guy said, nodding towards Sami and the sloppily drunk couple making out next to him, crowding Sami nearly off the couch.

Sami gave him a sarcastic smile. “Tons.”

“You, uh, you wanna go outside with me? Being in here is giving me a headache.”

Sami thought about it. He was only there to watch Tony, not to do any socializing himself, but Tony was just flirting with that Irish guy with the mohawk that Sami had met a few times. Tony seemed pretty into him, and Sami hadn’t gotten any bad vibes from him when he’d met him. Nor was he getting any bad vibes from the guy into front of him now, although he was sort of intimidating.

But Sami was always down for new friends, so he fixed the guy with a bright smile- _not too bright, not too bright-_ and followed the guy out the front door.

The dark haired guy sat down on the curb, placing a red solo cup on the cement next to him. Sami followed suit, trying not to sit so close that the guy would think he was weird. But of course, as soon as he opened his mouth all bets were off. “How do you think that car got that weird dent?” He mused, pointing at the brown Mitsubishi Eclipse in the driveway across the street.

The guy furrowed his brow. “It sorta looks like a cat hit it. If the cat was made of metal. And had the strength of a car.”

Sami laughed. “That’d be one hell of a cat. Like Colossus from the X-Men in cat form. You think they’d let that cat join the X-Men? Or do you think they only let _homo superior_ join the X-Men? I suppose then along those lines the cat could join a cat superhero team, but how many of those do you think there are? I think I remember Krypto the Superdog having his own dog superhero team, but I don’t remember if cats were allowed to join or not, do you? I suppose the cat could just be a lone superhero, but that just seems so sad. Everyone should have someone to depend on, I think.” He fell silent, having run himself into sort of a dead end.

He looked over to see a small smile playing over the unnamed guy’s lips. “Were any of those questions actually directed at me?”

“Um. If you want them to be?” Sami chewed on his lip.

The guy chuckled. “You seem a lot more comfortable out here than in there,” He observed, hooking a thumb back at the frat house.

“Oh.” Sami glanced back at the house. “Yeah. I’m just here to watch out for my best friend, make sure he’s not doing anything too dumb. This isn’t really my scene. I sorta hate these things, to be honest.”

“Everyone should have someone to depend on,” The guy murmured. “You know you don’t have to do that. He’s like, what- 18? 19?”

“19.”

“Yeah, he can take care of himself at this point. If you’re 19 and you don’t have enough common sense to keep yourself alive then that’s just natural selection, buddy.”

Sami ran a hand through his hair. “Honestly, he’s probably better than me at the whole adulting thing. I really suck at it, pretty much the only thing I can cook is pasta, I don’t do my homework or pay my rent until the very last second, I spent half a week at the end of last semester living on saltines and a tub of dark chocolate cake frosting because I didn’t budget right and had no money… anyway. I just worry, you know? He’s sorta all I have.”

“All you have?”

“Let’s just say I have a… I mean, I sort of… well, um. People don’t really. Like me. People don’t like me.” Sami grimaced. “What? Why not? I don’t see anything wrong with you.” The guy said, taking a swig from his cup. “To be perfectly honest I’ve just been trying really hard to act normal since you started talking to me. It’s pretty hard, honestly. Tony says I’m really fine and I just have to rein it in a little but I’m not really good at that, you know? When I was young I would talk to strangers at the grocery store about my day and my mom would always freak out and tell me I was gonna get kidnapped one day if I kept telling strangers everything about me, I never did get kidnapped thank God but I just don’t have a filter you know? I mean you're basically a perfect stranger and I'm telling you all this when we just met, what, 10 minutes ago? I just get excited about a lot of things and I just have a lot of thoughts and I have to voice them, I just can’t help it and so I ramble. A lot. I ramble a lot. It tends to bother people and it’s probably bothering you right now it is bothering you isn’t it? Fuck, now I’m bothering you and I’m weirding you out and don’t worry I won’t be offended if you want to leave or actually, no, I won’t make you leave I’ll just go, I’m terribly sorry to bother you-”

“It wasn’t weird until you just got up to leave in the middle of your sentence.”

Sami paused in a weird and very uncomfortable to maintain crouch over the curb and stared at the guy. “What?”

“I don’t care about your weird rambling problem as long as you don’t care if I cut you off sometimes.” Sami’s eyebrows went outlandishly high on his forehead.

“Not really a fan of you just taking off mid-conversation though.”

Sami plopped back down onto the curb. “Shit, yeah that was sorta rude of me wasn’t it?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, uh… I don’t think I caught your name?”

“Kevin.”

“I’m Sami.”

“You wanna get out of here?”

“I’m babysitting, remember?”

“Natural selection dude.”

Sami bit his lip. “I can’t. Not tonight.”

Kevin looked away.

“But, uh…” Sami started.

Kevin’s eyes snapped back to Sami.

“If you still wanna ditch the next time I see you at a party, I’m down.”

Kevin grinned. “I’ll hold you to that. Now give me your phone,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and holding it out.

Sami stared. “Uh, why?”

“You’re giving me your number.”

“Oh!” Sami exclaimed, handing over his phone and taking Kevin’s from his outstretched hand, quickly inputting his phone number. He felt his face grow warm and did his best to ignore it. _He probably won’t even text me this means nothing don’t get your hopes up don’t get your hopes up._

The music echoing from the house behind them suddenly got louder, and Sami looked over his shoulder to see a very inebriated Antonio hanging off Mohawk Guy (Sean? Shea? He’d introduced himself to Sami briefly but the music was loud and Sami didn’t remember exactly). Antonio caught sight of Sami immediately and whooped. “Samiii! Me and Sheamus are going to keep the party going at my place!” He yelled, gyrating his hips with more dexterity than a man with his blood alcohol level had any right to have. _Sheamus, that’s what it was. As stereotypically Irish as you can get without being an actual leprechaun_.

“Drive us home Samiiiii? I know you don’t want me driving like thisss!” He called.

Sami sighed. “Duty calls.”

“I’m telling you man,” Kevin shook his head. “Natural selection.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that took a while! Sorry for the wait. When I feel like writing I have no inspiration, when I have inspiration I don't feel like writing.
> 
> Got some translations and notes and stuff after the chapter.
> 
> Hope you guys like it!

Kevin grumbled under his breath as he got back in his car. This was the fourth party he’d been to that night. He was out of options. Four parties, and still no Sami. Kevin took out his phone and stared at that name in his contacts. _Sami Zayn._ He groaned and smacked his head with his fist. He’d had so much confidence when he got Sami’s number! Where had it all gone?

_Straight out the fucking window when I realized I probably freaked the guy out. Fucking demanding his number like that. He probably only gave it to me cause he was scared. He doesn’t want me to text him. Fuck. He’s not at any of these parties cause he’s fucking hiding from me. Big scary asshole Kevin, intimidating people into hanging out with him._

He turned the key in the ignition and started on his way home.

 

* * *

 

Kevin was annoyed. Well. Kevin was always sort of annoyed, but that wasn’t really his fault. People were just idiots. Like, all of them. Well.

Most of them.

Today Kevin was slightly more annoyed than usual. He scowled at his writing professor as he walked out the classroom door. That essay he’d just gotten back deserved way fucking better than the grade he’d gotten. He knew it, the professor knew it, everyone fucking knew it. Kevin snorted. At least now that he knew his writing professor was out to get him, he would ( _RIP HIS PROFESSOR TO SHREDS WITH HIS BARE HANDS)_  make his future essays fucking perfect so there was no way anyone could deny him his perfect grade.

While ripping a man to shreds was definitely illegal, Kevin could think of at least 37 different ways to embarrass him, ruin his life, and/or break his spirit that were all at least mostly within the law. Sadly though, he was saving them all for special occasions. If you said Kevin had a flair for the dramatic, well, he would beat you up, but you wouldn’t be wrong.

Still grumbling to himself about the conniving professor, Kevin didn’t notice the figure exiting a classroom in front of him until he crashed right into it.

The person fell to the floor, Kevin almost doing the same but managing to steady himself at the last second. “Fucking watch it! Do you not use your miniscule, pea-sized brain ever?” He yelled out reflexively.

“Oh dear! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that I’m so, so sorry!” The person exclaimed, hurriedly picking themselves up off the ground and presenting Kevin with a familiar face currently arranged into a far too apologetic expression.   _What grown man says oh dear?_ The ginger curls that sat atop the person’s head were only slightly mussed.

Kevin would like to be obliterated now.

Of _fucking_ course it was Sami Zayn.

Now he was sure the universe had it out for him.

“I-I mean, no, it-uh, it might’ve been my fault. Maybe. I might have uh, looked away for a second. Don’t feel bad. It’s fine.” Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. “And, uh, I’m sure your brain is average sized.”

Sami broke into a smile at that, a soft, easy smile that had Kevin feeling funny. He wondered if maybe he’d fucked up some important internal organ when he’d crashed into the guy.

“No worries!” Sami said, “It’s nice to see you again, Kevin.”

 “I went to another party last weekend,” Kevin said. “Didn’t see you there though.” _He was avoiding you don’t call him out on it bad idea bad idea can you ever not be a fucking creep?_

“Antonio was sick, so no babysitting for me last weekend. Hope you weren’t too bored without me.” He joked.

“Oh. Um. Actually,” Kevin started, before changing his mind. “Actually it was pretty fun, I barely even noticed you weren’t there.”

Sami’s bright smile fell just the tiniest bit and Kevin began berating himself internally. Why was it so goddamn hard for him to just be nice? Just say a nice fucking thing to this nice fucking guy? _An asshole to the core, you are._ Thankfully, he thought he knew how to fix this. Maybe. Possibly. He had a plan but, well, it was very short term.

“Do you have another class now?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Sami nodded. “I have economics in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re ditching with me,” Kevin said.

“I- what?”

“You promised you’d ditch with me. So let’s go.”

“I said a party! I didn’t say I’d skip class with you!” Sami cried, looking scandalized.

“So? Classes and parties are about the same level of boring anyway. Just in different ways. Skip it and come with me.”

“I can’t just skip my class, Kevin-“

“Yeah you can,” Kevin said, taking Sami by the wrist. “Come on.”

Sami continued his mild argument for a minute, but when Kevin opened the doors to the building and led Sami out into the sunshine, he seemed to give up and let Kevin guide him.

As they started off towards the parking lot across campus, Kevin tired to not think about his hand on Sami’s wrist. Or the fact that his plan pretty much ended here. Where were they going once they got to Kevin’s car? Fuck if he knew.

Fuck indeed.

 

* * *

 

After a long, drawn out argument with his own self inside his head in which Kevin had threatened to disembowel himself twice, he’d finally decided. He was taking Sami to his favorite place. Why? Because he was a giant idiot, obviously.

He questioned his decision for the sixth time within the last minute, his hands momentarily tensing on the steering wheel, before he forced himself to relax. He’d never told anyone about his favorite spot, not Chris or Joe or Neville. No one. His friends would never understand, and exposing what could potentially be perceived as a weakness to anyone, well, that wasn’t exactly something he wanted to do. He still wasn’t sure why he was bringing Sami there, besides the lack of a better idea, except that he felt Sami would love it too, and for some reason he genuinely felt as though he could trust him.

“So are you gonna tell me where we’re going yet or-?” Sami asked for the third time.

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s a surprise?” Kevin grumbled. “We’re pretty much here now anyway.” They pulled into a parking lot. The building in front of them read _Heyman and Associates Law Firm._

“A… law firm?” asked Sami quizzically. “Are you a lawyer? I mean we’re only in college so I don’t think you can be a lawyer. Which must mean you have a lawyer… what do you need a lawyer for? _Oh god did you kill somebody? La hawla wala quwwatah illa billah,_ you killed someone! And you’re gonna kill me! You brought me here to kill me so you could obtain legal advice immediately after your crime! That is smart but evil! That is so evil, Kevin!”

“I… what the fuck Sami? What language was that? And you literally could not be more wrong. How did you even come up with that?”

“It’s Arabic but that is besides the point!” Sami cried, distraught. “Why did you bring me to a law firm? I can’t think of any other reason besides you intending to commit heinous murder!”

“Well fucking follow me and you’ll see, won’t you?” Kevin said, grabbing an opaque plastic bag from behind his seat. He got out of the car, shutting the door behind him, and started walking towards the building.

“Well okay but you should know that there are multiple good reasons for you to not murder me!” Sami called, following suit and hurrying to catch up to Kevin.

“I already told you I’m not going to kill you,” Kevin groaned.

“Just in case! First of all, I’m great backup in a fight. I mean I don’t like to fight, but- wait, we just walked past the door!”

“I know that, you nimrod. We’re not going inside.”

“But there’s nothing behind the building, it’s just an empty lot, I saw it when we drove up. And what’s in that bag, huh? Oh my god, you are going to kill me, aren’t you? There’s a gun in there, isn’t there? _Ashadu an la ilaha ilallah wa ashadu ana Muhammad ar-rasoolulah,_ I’m going to die here.”

“Shut the fuck up, Sami.”

Kevin rounded the corner of the building, stepping into the empty lot. It was shady and mostly concrete, the cement wall of the law firm on one side, a tall wooden fence on the opposite side, the other two sides left open. There were some bushes near the fence, grass sprouting in the cracks in the cement, and near the law firm building, in a spot where the concrete had either been broken or eroded away, an entire small tree had grown. Kevin reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of something, crouching down and placing it on the ground in front of him. He clicked his tongue a few times, and then did nothing.

“What are you-” Sami started.

“Shhhh! Be quiet for once in your life!” Kevin whispered. “Just wait.”

Sami was quiet. For about two seconds. “So what are we waiting for?” He whispered.

Kevin glared at him.

_Mew._

Sami froze.

_Mew._ The one tiny meow broke into a chorus of tiny, delicate kitten meows as four, no, five kittens, followed by one slightly wary looking mother cat, bounded out of the bushes towards Kevin and Sami. Sami quickly realized that what Kevin had placed on the ground was cat food, and Kevin scooped out some more from a second bag inside the plastic bag for the mother.

Sami kneeled down next to Kevin and watched the cats eat, beaming. “How did you know I loved cats?” He slowly reached down to pet one softly.

“I didn’t,” Kevin said. “I knew I loved cats. You liking them is just a bonus. And if you tell anyone about this, I’ll kick your ass. You understand me?” Any intimidation his threat may have produced was slightly undercut by the adorable orange tabby kitten that had finished eating and was now sitting on his shoe. The kitten looked up at Kevin and let out a small meow.

“What,” asked Sami, “you trying to seem like a tough guy?”

“I am a tough guy, thank you very much. Cats can’t change that.”

“Tough guys with cats are the best tough guys,” Sami said with authority.

“I’m the best tough guy with or without cats.”

“With cats,” Sami said.

Kevin grunted. “With cats.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay so I'm Muslim and Arab-American and since Sami is too (Arab-Canadian, close enough) I'm pretty much gonna write this fic as accurately as possible in that respect. And one thing Arab Muslims do a lot is break into Arabic Islamic phrases in high pressure situations, hence Sami's random Arabic.
> 
> "La hawla wala quwwatah illa billah" translates to "there is no power nor strength except through God", and it's pretty much used when some bad shit is going down and you don't know what to do. I guess an equivalent would be like "God help me" or something.
> 
> "Ashadu an la ilaha ilallah wa ashadu ana Muhammad ar-rasoolulah" means "there is no God but God and Muhammad is his messenger". It's just like, the most basic tenant of the religion, we believe there is no god but God and that the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was his messenger. You're supposed to try to say it before you die. There's probably a reason, but I don't remember it.
> 
> Anyway! Sorry for the impromptu World Religions class, I'm used to explaining shit about Islam and it's a hard habit to break. And I just wanted to explain what was up with the random Arabic phrases in case anyone was wondering. You'll probably get more Islam 101 later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!  
> Shit it's been a long ass time since I've updated, I'm so sorry about that! I'm really fucking forgetful. Honestly thanks so much to Random_Hooman for commenting even though it's been so many months since the last chapter, that's really what made me realize I needed to get my ass in gear and write a new chapter. I'll do my best not to have a gap as long as this one ever again!
> 
> So this chapter is mostly just fluff but I have some stuff planned out that I'm gonna start writing out right away, and actual plot stuff is gonna start happening hopefully in the next chapter? Yeah so don't worry. Also the world needs more SamiKevin fluff anyway. Hope you guys like it!

Sami folded up his prayer rug and draped it over a spare chair that sat in the corner of his room. He’d just finished praying _Asr_ \- the third prayer of the day- and collapsed onto his bed. It was around 4 o’clock and he was done with classes for the day. He really should have been starting on that ten page essay that was due in three days, but instead he found his mind wandering.

He wondered if Kevin had ever taken anyone to see his kittens before. He didn’t think so- Kevin had seemed a bit unsure about the whole thing, and he didn’t seem like the “player” type. Sami had been able to tell that Kevin wasn’t as callous as he often came off at first, but he hadn’t realized to what extent until Kevin told him that he had named the tiniest kitten Mr. Marshmallow, which was a wholesome kitten name if he ever heard one. The threat that Kevin had fired off right after admitting it did nothing to stop Sami’s “aww!” of appreciation.

Sami pulled out his phone. He wanted to see more of the Kevin that he’d seen two days ago with the kittens- more comfortable, more open. Like he didn’t have to be anything more than he was. It made him happy to see Kevin so happy. He wasn’t entirely sure why he cared quite so much, when he’d only known Kevin for maybe a week and a half, tops, but Sami was ruled by his emotions. If he wanted to make Kevin happy, that’s what he was going to do.

  
Sami: _Hey_

Sami: _You wanna go get ice cream?_

And nothing made people happy like going out for ice cream.

* * *

 

_Buzz buzz_

Kevin looked away from the chemistry homework he was most definitely paying attention to to check his phone.

_2 messages from Sami Zayn_

What a coincidence. Kevin had just definitely not been thinking about a person named Sami Zayn and how soft his ginger curls may or may not be.

Sami: _Hey_

Sami: _You wanna go get ice cream?_

Fuck yeah he did.

* * *

 

20 minutes later, the two were walking into the nearest ice cream shop. Sami hadn’t been talking the entire way there, but Kevin would have been lying if he’d said Sami hadn’t monopolized most of the conversation. However, Kevin couldn’t bring himself to mind. He’d actually sort of been missing Sami’s rambling in the two days since they’d last seen each other. He usually hated people who didn’t shut up, but he found himself just enjoying listening to the tones of Sami’s voice and the things he said, and if Kevin didn’t have the opportunity to talk, he didn’t have the opportunity to fuck anything up.

“-because y’know, going out to an ice cream shop is just more special than just buying ice cream at the store. It just _feels_ different, you know? Almost like the ice cream tastes better, or like it’s more magic.”

“ _More_ magic?” Kevin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Come on Kevin, you can’t tell me ice cream’s not magic. Do you not remember how it felt to be a kid and have your parents take you to the ice cream shop? That’s magic. Pure magic,” Sami argued animatedly. “There was this one ice cream shop my family always used to go to that I really loved, but then my mom heard from her friend that they used alcohol in one or two of the flavors so she made us start going to a different one. I always loved that first one, though.”

“Wait, why did you have to go to a different one?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I’m Muslim and we can’t consume alcohol or things that are tainted with alcohol,” Sami explained with the practiced ease of someone who had explained that very thing many times before, “so my mom decided it was better safe than sorry and we should switch ice cream shops.”

Just then the little bell on the door jingled, and in walked two men about Sami and Kevin’s age. The one whose hair looked like it didn’t belong on his head squinted at the flavor of the day as they got in line about three people behind Sami and Kevin, while the one who was much too young to be a soccer mom zeroed in on Sami, glaring at him. Sami shrunk in on himself just the tiniest bit, Kevin only just able to catch it.

“Hey, are you-“

“So what flavor are you going to get?” Sami cut him off, a little too forced and a little too quiet.

Kevin looked at Sami for a few seconds, taking in his eyes subtly pleading with Kevin not to say anything. He sighed under his breath and let it go for the moment.

“Rocky road. Best flavor there is.”

Sami smiled, not as big as usual but not ungenuine. “No way! Simple, classic vanilla is the way to go.”

“Holy shit dude, that’s the most boring flavor in existence!”

Sami smiled. “Not if you get the kind that they dyed red, yellow, and blue!”

“Well that’s just unnecessary,” Kevin grumbled.

Sami shook his head. “You’re never satisfied, are you?”

“Never.”

* * *

 

Kevin stared at Sami as they ate their ice cream. His rocky road, combined with sitting at a tiny ice cream shop table with Sami, was making him feel a way that suggested maybe Sami was right about the whole ‘ice cream shops are magic’ thing. “How does it somehow make total sense that you like the most boring flavor, but in the messiest, stupidest form imaginable?”

Sami shrugged and tried to wipe a bit of blue off his cheek, succeeding only in smearing it and creating a greenish-blue streak across his face. “The colors make it taste better.”

Kevin snorted. “Sure they do, kid.”

“Try it then, Mr. Nonbeliever,” Sami huffed, scooping up a spoonful and holding it out towards Kevin’s face.

Kevin’s heart probably forgot to beat for a few seconds. Did he- did Sami want Kevin to take the spoon from him? No, it was too close to his face, not near his hands. He didn’t know what else Sami could be expecting him to do besides lean forward and eat the ice cream off the spoon, but that couldn’t be what he meant, could it? They weren’t that close were they? Kevin wanted to just eat the ice cream off the spoon but what if that wasn’t what Sami wanted him to do? What if he did it and Sami thought he was fucking weird and didn’t want to hang out with him anymore? Why was he so bad at understanding social cues?

Sami pushed the spoon a bit closer to Kevin’s face, an expectant look on his face. After another beat of Kevin doing nothing, he saw Sami’s face fall just the tiniest bit, almost so imperceptible Kevin wasn’t able to notice it, and he had just started to withdraw the spoon when Kevin decided _fuck it,_ and put his mouth around the spoon, eating the mass of cold sugar and probably too much food coloring to be healthy.

“Holy shit,” Kevin said, eyes widening.

“The colors do make it taste better.”

* * *

 

Sami got home around 6:30 and sat down to start on his essay, but 18th century France didn’t stand a chance at holding his attention when he couldn’t stop thinking about how he had literally fed Kevin ice cream, totally casual, like it was nothing! He hadn’t planned on it, it had just felt natural to hold his spoon out for Kevin to taste, and it was only once he had done it that it occurred to him maybe that was weird, and by then it had been too late.

That’s him, Sami Zayn. King of Wooing People Via Vaguely Socially Stunted Ice Cream Dates.

Sami sighed. He wasn’t going to get any work done on his paper at the moment, not with the overly excited state he was in.

He decided to get up and do some cleaning. He’d told himself he would vacuum today, at the minimum. His mother would throw all the shoes in her closet at him if he didn’t start cleaning at least a week in advance for an out of town guest and she found out. And his mother always found out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had to look up what different favorite ice cream flavors said about people in order to choose what Sami and Kev's favorite ice cream flavors each were, and I don't know how legit it is but I found an article based on a study by a neurosurgeon that said that vanilla people are "colorful, impulsive, idealistic risk-takers who rely more on intuition than logic", and that rocky road people are aggressive and goal-oriented, but good listeners. It also said their aggressive behavior can "inadvertently hurt the feelings of those that surround them." And I was like holy shit. But I felt like Sami's vanilla needed something extra, hence the red, yellow, and blue kind! They called it Superman when I was a kid and I loved it, I was so confused when I found out it was just vanilla.
> 
> As will probably become a bit routine, short explanation on the Islamic stuff in the chapter-
> 
> Muslims pray 5 times a day, the five prayers are Fajr (in the early morning), Duhr (around noon-ish), Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (evening), and Isha (night). We use a prayer rug to make sure the spot we're praying on is clean. I'll explain more on praying at some later point.
> 
> If you have any questions about anything don't hesitate to ask! Also if I start to go overboard with explaining Muslim stuff in the fic and it starts to feel more like a textbook and less like a fanfiction please let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaack! And I think this is my longest chapter so far. I realized that while ~1000 word chapters worked fine for me, they're probably a little frustrating for you guys, so I made this one more like ~2000. It's a start! Still a little brain dead from finals this past week, but I'm free now and I wrote this and I just wanna get it out. But now I'm All In (lol sorry) on this fic, so the chapters will hopefully be better and longer from now on. Thanks for reading!

Kevin glanced at his phone again. It was already 3 pm, and still no texts from Sami. Sami always woke up before him, and he usually had texted before this time. He always had something to say or something he wanted to do with Kevin or something he wanted his opinion on. Especially on the weekends. But so far, Kevin hadn’t heard from Sami at all.

It's not like he was _waiting_ for Sami to text him. He did have other things to do. He had homework, and both Adrian and Chris had asked if he wanted to hang out that day (Kevin certainly hadn’t said no just in case a certain redheaded someone wanted to hang out, of course not). He was just worried about him. Not like, _worried_ worried or anything. But, y’know, Sami was a pretty clumsy dude. Kevin wouldn’t put it past him to fall and get a concussion while sitting perfectly still.

So it was only logical for Kevin to call Sami, right? That’s what he told himself as he listened to the ringing on the other line, despite his brain telling him he was being a fucking creep. It’s not like they hadn’t been hanging out constantly for the past few weeks, but it had still only been a few weeks and Kevin wasn’t used to becoming such close friends with someone so fast. He really liked hanging out with Sami. And he figured Sami must like hanging out with him too, but as always, he still had that voice in the back of his head that told him “ _he doesn’t really like you at all. He’s already dropped you, see?”_ Kevin corralled the voice back to its designated corner of his brain and focused on the ringing sound.

It was in the split second before Sami answered that Kevin realized he could have just texted him.

_Well fuck._

“H-hello?” Sami’s voice said, breathlessness sticking the H sound in his throat.

“Um… hey Sami. Is this a bad time?”

“Oh, hi Kevin! No, it’s-” Someone cut him off, a muffled voice in the background. Kevin couldn’t make out what was said, but he heard Sami stifle a giggle, then heard the creak of a bed.

Kevin’s blood chilled slightly, for reasons he didn’t totally understand.

Sami started again, “it’s-”

This time it was Kevin who cut him off. “Nevermindsorryfuckyougottagobye.”

Almost on autopilot, Kevin hung up the phone.

Kevin didn’t really do much thinking after that. He’d sort of just shut his brain down. No reason to think about it anyway. Not like he cared about Sami or what he did in his free time. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Just like Kevin could.

Kevin scrolled through his contacts until he found Chris’ name.

Kevin: _Changed my mind. You guys still going out tonight?_

Chris: _U know it! B ready at 9 amigo!_

 

* * *

Sami: _You okay??_

Sami: _What happened???_

Sami: _Kevin??????_

Sami: _Call me when you get the chance, please?_

 

* * *

 

 

Kevin drank more than he had in a long time that night. He didn’t let himself think about why, he only knew that Chris kept putting drinks in front of him, gleeful that he wasn’t refusing most of them like usual, and Kevin just kept downing them.

Chris tried his best to get Kevin on the dance floor, but Kevin wasn’t too much of a dancer on his best day, and a blind man could tell you today was not nearly his best day. So he sat at the bar and alternated between staring at the wood grain on the counter, and glaring at the bartender in a way that was probably gonna end up biting him in the ass at some point.

As his brain got fuzzier and fuzzier, the only thought that stayed clear in his mind was “ _I wanna talk to Sami.”_ The thoughts preceding and following that thought, such as “ _Sami’s smile is probably the cure for cancer, but I hope it’s not because if it was it would probably make him really busy all the time, smiling at cancer patients every day”_ and “ _Sami’s probably busy with whoever that FUCKWIT is, he doesn’t wanna talk to me”,_ were slowly forgotten, until all that was left was _“I wanna talk to Sami.”_

He pulled out his phone and looked at his last text from Sami.

Sami: _Call me when you get the chance, please?_

Well, Kevin supposed he should call him. He couldn’t think of a reason not to at that point. A small voice in his brain tried to tell him why, but it was quickly drowned out by a pleasant buzzing that Kevin couldn’t get rid of.

Kevin pressed the call button next to Sami’s name and listened as it rang.

“Kevin?” Sami answered. “Are you okay?

“Nooo,” Kevin slurred. “I’m not okay.”

“Um, okay, where are you? Do you need me to come get you?”

“I’m at the L-liontamer and I just-” The phone was suddenly grabbed out of Kevin’s hand by Chris, who had materialized out of seemingly nowhere.

“No way Kevin, you are not drunk calling people to cry to them about stupid shit on my watch!” He exclaimed.

Kevin grabbed for the phone. “GIVE IT BACK!” He yelled. A small scuffle ensued, but although Kevin was bigger than Chris, Chris was at least moderately less inebriated than Kevin. He pressed the “end call” button on Kevin’s phone and pocketed it.

“You’ll thank me in the morning,” he said, albeit sort of smugly.

Kevin harrumphed and settled back down on his stool.

“You still won’t come over and dance with us?” Chris whined.

Kevin glowered at him.

Chris shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He turned to walk away, and then stopped and faced Kevin once again. “Also, you’re literally crying, dude. It’s not a good look. You might want to do something about that,” He said, handing him a tissue and going back to the dance floor.

Kevin crumpled the tissue in his fist and shoved it in his pocket, but as he watched Chris’ retreating back, he realized that he actually had started crying a little at some point.

He pulled the tissue out back out of his pocket and dabbed it at his eyes. Stupid Chris, actually being useful. He loved Chris.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m at the L-liontamer and I just-”

“You just what?” Sami asked, putting down his bowl of popcorn and pausing the movie ( _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince_ ).

He heard a muffled voice on the end, but couldn’t make out any of the words.

“Kevin? Are you okay?”

“GIVE IT BACK!” Sami heard Kevin yell distantly on the other end of the line, followed by a series of “hey!”s, “ow!”s, and bangs, and then the line clicked and went dead.

“Kevin? Kevin???” Sami cried.

When he got no reply, he put the phone down and turned the man whose chest he had been leaning on before the phone call.

“It sort of sounds like something happened to Kevin and I know I’m probably just freaking out over nothing but I’m really worried, he’s been weird today. I know you don’t know him but he said he’s at the Liontamer, and I’m just worried, I wanna go check on him. Do you want to come? You don’t have to of course and maybe I shouldn’t either, it’s probably nothing and I’d probably just be bothering him while he’s having fun with his friends but like what if something did happen? What if-“

“Sami.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s cool, I’ll come. If there’s a chance something is wrong, we should go and make sure he’s okay.”

“Thank you.” Sami smiled and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing him for a second into a tight hug.

“Of course. I’ve been wanting to meet this Kevin guy anyway.” Finn grinned.

 

* * *

 

 

Without his phone, Kevin had resorted to glaring at the bartender even more than he had been previously. So much, in fact, that the bartender had finally snapped and told him to get lost.

With little argument but much grumbling, Kevin got up off his stool and went to go find Chris. He figured it was time to go home, and Chris would worry if he left without a word. But in his hurry to get to Chris and get out, and in his less-than-dexterous state, he accidentally smashed his shoulder into a tall guy in a denim vest walking the opposite way, carrying a drink in each hand.

The drink in the hand furthest from Kevin stayed safe, but the other splashed up into the guy’s face. His long, dark hair dripped onto his vest, the alcohol darkening the fabric as he snarled at Kevin. “What the fuck, man?”

_Oh shit._

Kevin put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Hey- hey man I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was just-“

The guy put the drinks down onto a nearby table. “Oh trust me, you will be sorry,” he growled. He stalked closer to Kevin and, before he even had time to react, punched him square in the face.

Kevin went down hard, falling backwards onto his ass, and the guy, quick as anything, was on top of him, pounding his face with his fists in a way that both hurt his face and rattled his brain, making it pound against his skull from the inside. He flailed his fists wildly, beating them fruitlessly against the guy’s back, when suddenly the weight on top of him disappeared, and his fists reached nothing but air.

He felt hands on his upper arms, dragging him up much quicker than his pounding head appreciated.

“Kevin!!” A distressed looking Sami cried, his hands still holding onto Kevin tightly. “Are you okay?? How many fingers am I holding up?” He asked, holding up four fingers on his right hand.

“Nevermind that,” Kevin panted, grabbing Sami’s arm. “We have to go, I don’t want you to-“ He turned to look back at the guy who had attacked him, and was just in time to see a short, muscular man put the tall guy into a rear wrist lock.

“Now I think you should mind your own business and just walk away, don’t you?” He said in a thick Irish accent.

The guy growled and jerked around, trying to get out of the hold, but after his arm was wrenched even further up his back, he stopped and hissed, “Yeah okay, I’m leaving. Just let me go, asshole.”

The Irish guy shrugged and let go, but was obviously still on his guard as the crowd that had gathered around them parted for a tattooed man in a suit, who sped towards Kevin’s aggressor and sighed.

“We’ve fucking talked about this, Baron.”

“But-”

“I’m sorry for him,” the man said, turning to the Irish man and hooking his thumb towards apparently Baron. “He has some issues, if you couldn’t tell.” And with that he grabbed the tall man by his vest and pushed through the crowd of people once more, the two of them disappearing into the throng of bodies.

The Irish guy stared at their retreating backs for a second before he began walking back towards Kevin and Sami, and that was Kevin’s chance to get a better look at the guy. And holy FUCK, what a guy. The physique of probably a literal god, the face to match, not to mention he had just gotten the guy who had completely fucked up Kevin to give up and leave without even throwing a single punch. Fuck. Was this who Sami had been with when he’d called earlier that day? Fuck. FUCK. _FUCK._

 Kevin looked over at Sami to find him positively beaming. Fuck.

“That was so cool! Oh my god, you’re so badass, man! How did you even do that? I mean I know you’re really good at that kind of stuff, but that was crazy! Were you-”

“Sami.” The Irish man nodded at Kevin.

Remembering who he was clinging to, Sami’s jubilation changed to worry. “Oh my god I’m so sorry are you okay?? Your phone call sort of worried me and you seemed kind of weird today so we came to make sure you were okay and obviously it’s a good thing we did, what happened? Do you wanna come back to my place and get some ice for your head? And you’re bleeding too, oh my god.”

Kevin stared at Sami for a minute, trying to get his brain working again.

“Yeah, sure,” he said slowly. “I guess, as long as it’s cool with, uh-” He looked at the Irish guy warily.

“Finn!” The guy broke into a smile that could rival Sami’s and stuck out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Kevin reached out and shook his hand as if on autopilot. “Kevin.”

“I know,” Finn said, “Sami’s told me a lot about you. I’ve been wanting to meet you, although I didn’t really expect it to go this way.”

“Thanks for that,” Kevin muttered, suddenly sullen as he was reminded of his embarrassing beatdown and accompanying rescue by this guy who was probably (probably? _Definitely)_ fucking Sami.

“It was no problem!” Finn said.

“Maybe not for you,” Kevin muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Okay, well, we should get you back to Sami’s. You don’t look too good,” Finn said concernedly. “And you’re sort of swaying back and forth. I assume that’s not intentional.”

“It is,” said Kevin, inconspicuously grabbing tighter onto Sami in an attempt to steady himself. “One hundred percent intentional. Like everything I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A challenger approaches! (Or does he?)


	5. Chapter 5

Kevin awoke to a painful headache and the muted sound of a videogame- Street Fighter, it sounded like? Kevin didn’t know Sami liked Street Fighter. He could hear Sami exchanging playful banter with someone in the other room. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and the accent… Irish?

Kevin shot upright at the vague memory of the night before, only to immediately lay back down with a grunt as the pounding in his head increased.

He’d gotten way too drunk at the Liontamer, bumped into that tall asshole, the guy had punched him in the face (he probably had a black eye, he decided as he felt the tender skin), and then Sami and that asshole he’d brought had saved him. Was his name Finn? Probably. Maybe? Who cares, he decided. He remembered him being… stunningly attractive. Way too attractive for real life. It had to have been some sort of alcohol-induced hallucination.

“Kevin?”

He looked up to see Sami standing in the doorway, looking concerned. “How are you feeling?

He pinned Sami with a flat stare. “Super.”

“Sorry!” Sami blushed slightly. “Dumb question. Do you need painkillers? Do you want breakfast? I should get some ice for your eye, shouldn’t I? Oh, that rhymed! Neat. Let me go get your stuff.”

He ambled out of the room, and only then did Kevin notice enough of his surroundings to realize that he was lying in Sami’s bed. Feeling uncomfortable about that for reasons he couldn’t remember, he rolled out of bed and followed the walking headache into the kitchen.

He blinked against the brightness of the day that the curtains in Sami’s room had been keeping out, and he somehow didn’t notice the man who was unfortunately not an alcohol-induced hallucination until he was standing directly in front of him, holding out a hand towel filled with what was probably ice cubes.

“Morning,” Finn grinned as he handed Kevin the ice, “that’s one hell of a shiner. Sorry we didn’t get there sooner.”

Sami suddenly materialized next to Finn and placed some painkillers and a glass of water on the counter next to Kevin. “But I’m so glad we got there before it got worse! That guy was huge, Kev.”

Finn walked over to the oven and pulled out a plate of pancakes and eggs. “I made breakfast a while ago, so we just stuck yours in the oven. Figured you needed the sleep.” He put the plate down in front of Kevin.

Kevin scrutinized Finn for a moment as a thought began to dawn on him. It took him a few seconds, but then it came to him.

He was being parented. They were fucking parenting him.

God damn it.

First Sami and his- his- his whatever the _fuck_ he was had to save his ass the night before, and now they’re giving him painkillers and fucking making him breakfast like he needed to be taken care of.

Kevin was angry. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was angry. What he was sure of was that his pain meds hadn’t yet kicked in, and he did not yet have the mental faculty to try and puzzle out his emotional state. He sighed in momentary defeat, glared weakly at Finn’s back, and took a bite of his eggs.

 

* * *

 

 

It had been a week since Sami and Finn had deposited Kevin back at his place to rest, and just as long since Sami had gotten any sort of correspondence from Kevin that was more than two words at a time.

Kevin paused his game and glanced guiltily at the black screen of his phone. It had dinged a while ago, and he’d been successfully ignoring it, but the longer he waited the worse he felt about leaving Sami hanging. And he knew it was Sami. It was always Sami. He picked up his phone.

_Do you wanna hang out today? There’s a flower festival downtown!_

Sent 44 minutes ago and counting. Kevin genuinely wasn’t sure. He always wanted to see Sami, but for some reason now when he thought of him it was like… all his organs twisted up inside? He both wanted to see him and wanted to never see him again.

And of course, Sami and Dumbfuck Muscles McGee were apparently a package deal now. How long was that asshole going to be visiting anyway? Didn’t he have a life to get back to? Preferably one that kept him very busy and far away?

Or what if he never left? What if him and Sami became a permanent package deal? What if- what if they already were?

Kevin scowled.

_Busy, sorry._

Kevin unpaused his game and stabbed an alien through the heart. _By god,_ a small voice inside his head said, _that alien has a family!_

Good. He hoped they were devastated.

* * *

 

 

“He says he’s busy again,” Sami said with a frown as he texted the emoji equivalent of his current face back to Kevin.

Sami sat on the floor, back resting against the couch, knees pulled up to his chest, squinting as his phone as if it could elaborate on Kevin’s answer for him. Finn lay sprawled longways across the couch, absentmindedly scrolling through Twitter with one hand and messing up Sami’s curls with the other.

“Do you believe him?”

“What? Why wouldn’t I believe him?” Sami asked, puzzled.

“Well, you said you two had been hanging out almost every day before I got here,” Finn said. “It just seems bit suspicious that all of a sudden he’s so busy.”

Sami turned to face Finn abruptly. “You think he’s avoiding us?? But why would he do that?”

Finn shrugged. “Is he the jealous type?”

“What? What does that have to do with it?” Sami questioned, flinging out his upturned palms.

“We’re pretty close Sambo, it’s not hard to tell. Is he the type that would notice that and get pissed and insecure about it, and then be childish enough to try to ghost you for a week instead of talking to you about how he feels like an adult?”

Sami took a solid minute and thought really hard on the subject.

“Okay, maybe he is exactly the type that would notice how close we are and get pissed and insecure about it, and then be childish enough to try to ghost me for a week instead of talking to me about how he feels like an adult. But that doesn’t mean that’s what’s happening!”

Finn sighed. “Get dressed dude, we’re gonna be late for the festival.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sami was already having a great time.

The flower festival was just what he needed to take his mind off of Kevin. He and Finn had found the spot quite easily due to how visually loud the festival was, full of bright, vivid, beautiful colors. Vendors filled the streets, selling festival food, flower themed merchandise, and of course, flowers. So many flowers. People wore flowers in their hair, on their clothes, they carried bouquets of flowers. Signs advertised the parade that would be happening in a few hours. With some time to kill before the parade, Sami and Finn wandered the festival and took in the sights.

Sami turned a street corner and his eyes widened. He dropped Finn’s hand and jogged slightly ahead towards the person he had seen. The woman seemed to be in her 60s or 70s, and she was wearing a long gown that seemed as though it was made only of roses. Her hair was done in up curls with roses as well, and she was holding a bouquet of roses that she was handing out to children who greeted her.

Sami had to say something. “You look beautiful, ma’am! Your dress is lovely.”

The woman looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you dear, I should hope so! It took me quite a while to make.”

Sami’s eyes widened. “You made that?” He asked. Finn came up from behind him and grabbed his hand again. He knew how easy it was to lose Sami in a crowded are full of distractions. There was no way she made that, it was too good! Not that he thought she couldn’t do it, but it looked so professional! He couldn’t even tell if the roses were real or fake!

“I did!” She beamed. “I made the dress at home and that’s where I added the one thousand roses, all real.”

Sami’s jaw hit the ground.

“It’s fantastic, honestly.” He heard Finn saying as he tried to pick the lower half of his face up off the floor.

“You are the most skillful person I’ve ever met, and you should be extremely proud!” Sami shouted, regaining the ability to speak a little too well.

The woman laughed and handed Finn a red rose from her bouquet. Sami thought she was going to give him one too, but instead she looked down at her bouquet, muttering and shuffling it around. He began to feel a little crestfallen when the woman made a triumphant noise and pulled a yellow rose out of the middle of her bouquet.

“Here you go, honey.” She smiled at him. “A rose as sunny as you.” And with that she turned away and began handing out more roses to children.

“Don’t cry,” Finn said, tucking the rose behind Sami’s ear and then handing him a tissue from his pocket.

“SHE WAS SUCH A NICE LADY!” Sami exclaimed, wiping at his eyes with the tissue.

“I know Sami, but-”

“FINN WE NEED TO PET THAT DOG IT’S WEARING A HAT”

 

* * *

 

 

Sami had gotten the cutest picture of Finn petting the corgi in the lavender sunhat, one hand petting the dog and the other doing his signature Finn Freeze, somehow even in a crouch.

“I am posting this picture absolutely everywhere, I hope you know,” Sami said smugly.

“Just don’t forget to send it to my parents; you know they hate missing out on things because they can’t figure out the internet.”

“Foolish of you to assume I hadn’t already sent it to them. Your dad says hi and your mom says to wear more sunscreen.”

“Just me, or does she want you to wear more sunscreen too?” Finn raised an eyebrow.

“I’m Arab, I don’t need sunscreen!” Sami hated sunscreen. It smelled weird and Arabs weren’t supposed to sunburn anyway.

“Most Arabs aren’t fucking redheads. And that doesn’t protect you from skin cancer anyway. I’m telling Mum,” Finn said, pulling out his phone.

Fuck. Finn’s mom was a sweet lady BUT THAT DIDN’T MEAN HE WANTED TO CROSS HER. She had a demonic side that Sami was not particularly keen on awakening. He definitely preferred sunscreen.

“Okay, okay! More sunscreen for me,” Sami muttered. “Just don’t tell your mom.”

Finn smirked. “Kay. The parade should have already started, let’s go get a spot over there.” He pointed to a not-to-dense space behind the barricades.

They stepped into the street, intending to cross and make their way towards a good spot to watch the parade. What they weren’t expecting was the fucking parade. Suddenly. Right on top of them.

Sami panicked and suddenly he wasn’t holding Finn’s hand anymore, Finn was gone, there were just lots of people and colors and movement all very close to him, crowding him and he wasn’t supposed to be here, oh fuck he hoped he wasn’t ruining anything too badly, was he going to cause some sort of chain reaction that led to disaster? Was he going to get arrested? Was he going to die? He was going to die.

Gradually the people became less dense around him.

_Oh thank god I’m alive._

Sami looked up to see a massive parade float decked out in flowers looming over him, nearly on top of him.

_Nevermind I guess._

“Sami!” He turned towards the voice, Finn’s voice of course, and saw a hand reaching out for him. He grabbed at Finn’s hand frantically, and the hand yanked him forward, out of the way of the float, and hard enough that he fell by the wayside of the parade, right on top of Finn.

“Oh dear! Oh no, sorry Finn!” Sami said, grabbing Finn and pulling him to his feet.

“Are you okay?” Finn asked, leaning in to fix Sami’s flower that had almost been knocked loose.

As he readjusted his stance, Sami felt a sharp pain in his ankle. _Ow fuck. Fuck ow._ He lost his footing and stumbled forward slightly into Finn, his face bumping against Finn’s and his arms grabbing onto Finn’s shoulders for support. Finn’s arms automatically grabbed onto Sami to steady him.

“Shit! I don’t know. Can we go sit down somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Finn nodded worriedly, rubbing his forehead where Sami had hit him with his very own forehead. “Come on.”

The pair made their way over the parade barricade and to a nearby bench (Finn helping Sami a considerable amount) that somehow both had a good view of the parade and was unoccupied. Sami sat down first, and when Finn sat next to him, he gingerly placed his foot across Finn’s lap.

“Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“I think I’ll be okay with some ice and rest,” Sami said.

“We should at least go home,” Finn insisted.

“Well yeah, but after the parade,” Sami insisted. “I’m fine, I’m not dying and I wanna see the parade.”

Finn snorted. “Why do I feel like you’d say that even if you were dying?”

“Cause I would.” Sami turned to face the street where the parade was passing them by. All the floats and flowers were so pretty! Like, yeah he’d fucked up his ankle, but he got to see this beautiful sight with Finn! He figured that made up for his ankle. It hurt to walk on, sure, but he didn’t think it was too bad of an injury or a circumstance.

Wait.

_Oh no._

He took it back, this was bad. This was a bad situation. Very bad. Houston, we have a problem.

“FINN HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PET THAT DOG OVER THERE?”

 

* * *

 

 

Kevin yawned. The line in this ramen shop was moving too fucking slowly for his personal taste and he was beginning to get annoyed. He glanced towards the television mounted on the wall as the news started a segment on the flower festival that Sami had invited him to. He stared at the woman on the screen disinterestedly for a moment before he noticed some people near the parade behind her, and Kevin- _he knew that hair. Sami?_

As he watched the screen, he saw the figure he now recognized as Finn adjust the yellow rose behind Sami’s ear- he took a half second to appreciate how fucking cute Sami was with that flower- and then suddenly Sami was launching himself forward into Finn’s arms, his hands finding Finn’s upsettingly broad shoulders and then they were- WERE THEY KISSING.

Fuck.

No.

Fuck no fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckno fuck.

Ramen be damned, Kevin pushed past the people behind him in line, earning a chorus of grumbles that he frankly could not give less of a shit about. The bell on the door chimed much more cheerfully than Kevin was okay with as he stormed out of the shop and onto the street.

He’d known. Of course, he’d known. How could he not, when Finn looked like _that?_ Kevin wasn’t stupid, he knew the score, knew which of them was the one fated to “get the guy”. He scoffed. As if he was ever even a contender. For all he knew those two assholes could’ve been together for a long time before Kevin had even met Sami.

He’d known, but that didn’t mean he wanted to _see_ it.

Didn’t mean he could handle seeing it.

Still standing outside the ramen place, Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, shooting off a text.

_Get me drunk._

Chris’ reply came almost immediately.

_U got it!_

* * *

 

 

Kevin was drunk. Very drunk. Hammered. Sloshed. Fucked up. Shit-faced. Smashed. Trashed. Other words for drunk that he just couldn’t remember at the moment.

He couldn’t remember a lot of things, actually. Like how did he get to Sami’s front door? That was a big one. He knew he hadn’t driven there because drunk driving was BAD. BAD and don’t do it.

Had he walked? Had he taken a taxi? Had he dug a tunnel? Not a fucking clue.

Kevin also couldn’t remember why he was there. Why had he gone to Sami’s place? He should go to his own place. And go to bed, probably. His mother would probably be disappointed in him if she could see him now.

But his mother didn’t know the whole story! She didn’t know how Sami had made Kevin _feel_ , how much they had shared in the time they’d spent together, how Sami’s hair shone in the sunlight, how much Kevin liked hanging out with Sami, how Sami had MADE KEVIN FEEL. And she didn’t know that it had all meant nothing to Sami. She didn’t know that Sami had apparently never given a fuck, or at least he’d stopped his giving of fucks when perfect fucking _Finn_ showed up. Was Kevin just a way to pass the time until a guy actually worthy of Sami appeared? Fucking probably. It wasn’t like he’d be good for anything else.

Suddenly, Kevin was _angry._

He approached Sami’s door in a few unsteady strides and began knocking rapidly on the door. Continuous knocking. He wasn’t stopping until someone opened the door.

And then someone did, a tired-looking Sami wearing only pajama bottoms and standing on one foot, for some reason. He blinked.

“Kevin? Are you okay?” Sami asked confusedly. In the dim lighting behind him, Kevin could make out a set of abs that he knew was Finn. “Come inside and sit down, you look like you’re about to fall over-”

“NO.” Kevin shouted. “I don’t want to fucking come inside. That bitch already is, anyway,” He pointed at Finn.

Sami’s eyes narrowed. “Kevin, what the-”

He was cut off by Kevin slamming a hand heavily against the doorframe. Sami flinched. Finn stepped closer to Sami. Kevin seethed.

“Came to tell you that I never want to fucking see you again. Stop motherfucking texting me. Fucking _slut_.”

 


End file.
